Washington (AFP)
Dressed in yellow, her head capped with a red crown, the young African-American poet Amanda Gorman captivated the public Wednesday during the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden, with her verses calling for the unity of the United States.
Only 22 years old, the young woman from Los Angeles recited a poem of her own composition, "The hill we climb", a reference to Capitol Hill, where supporters of Donald Trump invaded the seat of Congress on January 6.
Her text, which she wrote in one go after this murderous assault, evokes "a force that will break our Nation, rather than share it".
"This effort has almost succeeded / but while democracy may be delayed at times, it cannot be permanently suppressed."
In a calm voice, she chanted her rhymes, accompanying them with graceful movements, not letting a stuttering pierce that, like Joe Biden, affected her in her childhood.
And who also pushed her to write, to compensate.
The poet described herself as "a skinny black girl, descended from slaves, raised by a single mother," who finds herself "reciting" in front of a president.
A child prodigy, she won her first poetry award at age 16, and was crowned the country's "best young poet" three years later while studying sociology at prestigious Harvard University.
According to the American press, his name was whispered to the organizers of the ceremony by Jill Biden, the wife of the 46th president, who had attended one of his readings.
Their order, placed in December: that she write an ode to "United America", echoing the speech of the Democrat.
His text bends to it, without denying the challenges of the present.
"We're going to turn this wounded world into another, wonderful one."
“There is always light if we're brave enough to see it. If only we were brave enough to be.”
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